Washington (CNN) - Both the presumptive GOP presidential nominee and the chairman of the Republican National Committee were quick to use April's unemployment numbers to criticize President Barack Obama's job on creating jobs.

"It's a terrible and very disappointing report this morning. Clearly the American people are wondering why this recovery isn't happening faster, what's taking years and years for the recovery to occur. And we seem to be slowing down, not speeding up. This is not progress," Mitt Romney said Friday in an interview on Fox News.- Follow the Ticker on Twitter: @PoliticalTicker

“This is very, very disappointing. A lot of American people are having difficult times, and this is not good news this morning," added the former Massachusetts governor, who argued the reason the rate dropped was due to more people leaving the workforce.

Romney's comments came just a few minutes after the Labor Department reported that the nation's unemployment level edged down from 8.2% in March to 8.1% in April.

The Labor Department also reported that the number of jobs rose by 115,000, lower than many economists had predicted. According to the report, 342,000 workers dropped out of the labor force, with the labor force participation rate, now at 63.6%, at its lowest level since 1981.

The RNC chairman was also quick to react to the jobs report.

"President Obama's desperate hype-and-blame campaign will try to spin today's anemic jobs report six ways to Sunday, but the facts remain clear: too many Americans have been unemployed for far too long. For millions, the economy is simply not working," said RNC Chairman Reince Priebus, in a statement that used the party committee's new "Hype and Blame" slogan.

"Three years ago, President Obama vowed to fix the economy in three years and to hold himself accountable to his record. Today's numbers remind us that he has failed to live up those promises, and he has no one to blame but himself. We must change course in November to ensure our children have the prosperous future they deserve," added Priebus, in his statement.

The White House did not put out an instant reaction to the jobs numbers. About an hour after the report's release, they did put out a statement.

"Today's employment report provides further evidence that the economy is continuing to heal from the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, but much more remains to be done to repair the damage caused by the financial crisis and the deep recession. It is critical that we continue the economic policies that are helping us dig our way out of the deep hole that was caused by the severe recession that began at the end of 2007," said Alan Krueger, chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers.

The president is expected to speak about the unemployment report later Friday morning at an event on student loans in Northern Virginia.

The economy remains the top issue on the minds of Americans and jobs remains the top economic issue. A CNN/ORC International poll conducted last month indicated that Americans were split on which candidate could best jumpstart the economy, with 44% saying Obama would be more likely to get the economy moving and 42% saying that Romney would do a better job to stimulate the economy.

soundoff(275 Responses)

mrzntejas

Republicans exploit the people who vote for them in order to give tax breaks to the richest among us, and do so by stoking anger at Liberals who, ironically enough, are usually the only types of leaders in government who have ever done good things for the majority of the people of the United States of America.

May 4, 2012 11:22 am at 11:22 am |

Save Us Jeebus

Wow...the GOP has nothing to go on, do they? They even twist relatively good news into anti-Obama rhetoric. Do they want people to stay unemployed? (Rhetorical question – I know the answer is 'yes'.)

May 4, 2012 11:23 am at 11:23 am |

Darrell

To the RNC chairman:

You admit that we are in a economic recovery which means things are getting better. I might add, things are getting better from the economic mess your party and the former Republican president put our country in.

May 4, 2012 11:23 am at 11:23 am |

Mike Woutlette

Sadly the Republicans damaged our economy, almost beyond repair, using a philosophy identical to that advocated by Romney. Now they want to do it again.How messed up is that? Republicans are insane. They should be banned from the earth.

May 4, 2012 11:23 am at 11:23 am |

Mark

At least we're not loosing 600-700k per month. It took 8 years to destroy the economy. It can't be fixed in three. Especially when you get no cooperation from the party of NO.

May 4, 2012 11:24 am at 11:24 am |

M. Simons

Why doesn't Romney buy each of the unemployed a plane ticket overseas so they can find a job in one of the companies he shipped out of the country. This man wouldn't know the truth if it bit him!

May 4, 2012 11:24 am at 11:24 am |

America4Americans

Liberals and secularists are on the way out and the American People will have ropes ready for them come November. We are going back to our Moral center one way or another.

May 4, 2012 11:26 am at 11:26 am |

Patrick Lewis

These people are cheering on unemployment. Disgusting. Has the GOP done anything to help? No, they have obstructed everything, made the political environment more volatile and hampered the public works projects that we need both to fix our crumbling infrastructure and employ our citizens. This is further proof that they don't care about US they care about themselves and their own hold on power. Is it possible to put these traitors in jail for treason?

May 4, 2012 11:26 am at 11:26 am |

John in SC

What a bunch of crap. They are happy as clams that the job situation is not great. They would sacrifice the welfare of our nation just to get the white house, and control of congress. Pathetic.

May 4, 2012 11:26 am at 11:26 am |

dave

The numbers keep getting better in spite of the Republicans. Their stated purpose is to make Obama a one term Pres. They feel a bad economy is good for them, and they are actively seeking our economic decline in order to try to win an election. This, to me, borders on treason. FIRE THE HOUSE!

May 4, 2012 11:26 am at 11:26 am |

LolDems

Spin, spin, spin. No true leftylibdem holds BO accountable, not even to his own promises. The leftylibdem lemmings, blinded by ideology and self-serving interests, blame, blame, blame. Do the leftylibdems know the characteristics of leadership? The obviously don't know the definition of hypocrisy. Too many Americans are suffering from the failed policies and short-sighted liberation socialism this hapless POTUS promulgates. Fire the incompetent under-performing Barack Hussein Obama. He's driving the middle-class, minority families, and young adults into new levels of poverty and desperation. BO was right when he said he doesn't look like those other guys on US currency. And he doesn't act like one either. He's had his chance and he couldn't cut it. Plain and simple.

May 4, 2012 11:27 am at 11:27 am |

Bob in Ohio

To Four and the Door – I am assuming you meant to say that for Mr. Romney and the Republican party "it's really expensive trying to buy their way around the main issue(s):. Probably a typographical error on Four's part.

May 4, 2012 11:27 am at 11:27 am |

mrzntejas

It is not just that Republicans have no interest in creating jobs, but the GOP has a vested electoral interest in killing jobs. Republicans are voting against any legislation that might create a job. The Republicans have been pushing spending cuts because they know that cutting spending is the one sure way to make sure that unemployment doesn’t decrease. The Republican Party doesn’t care that millions of their constituents are suffering. They are trying to defeat Barack Obama and win an election.

May 4, 2012 11:28 am at 11:28 am |

Ken

How many jobs have been created due to Republican obstructionism? ZERO!

May 4, 2012 11:28 am at 11:28 am |

John

Baring any major corruption scandal of impeachable quality, if unemployment numbers continue to fall consistently, Obama will win the general election. Even if the supreme court throws out portions of the healthcare law, Obama will claim a partial win and tell his voters that he tried. I don't see the closet liberal progressive beating Obama in the 2012 general election. Perhaps others have different views.

May 4, 2012 11:29 am at 11:29 am |

caeser

"Three years ago President Obama vowed to fix the economy" say's Reince Priebus.
You're finally acknowledging that our economy was put in shambles by your previous administration.
Now...don't you feel better that you told the truth?

May 4, 2012 11:29 am at 11:29 am |

Bill

I love how the GOP think that youtube and Google don't exist or that people are too stupid to look up. Obama specifically said the economy COULDN'T be fixed in a few years. Even if they got rid of the automatic fixed costs that the GOP left the country with like the Bush tax cuts and the Prescription Drug Plan (passed by Bush and GOP Congress with no funding), it would take a long time of shared sacrifice and fiscal responsibility. After all, it took eight years to accumulate that debt so it would take more (because of the magic of compound interest) to get rid of it even if they got rid of those GOP-incurred expenses on day 1. But since GOP has been doing everything it can to keep those recurring costs (and things billions a year in subsidies to the oil industry), progress has been slow. And their gloating over a slow recovery just shows they are willing to destroy the country rather than work with a moderate black man. If you go strictly on record, Ronald Reagan was a more liberal President than Obama. Reagan raises taxes more than any President in history while Obama lowered taxes. Reagan championed gun control laws after you know what. Reagan appointed a liberal Supreme Court justice and signed they most comprehensive pro-choice bills into law. He also tripled the debt he inherited (so much for fiscal responsibility). The only thing more conservative about Reagan was the color of his skin.

May 4, 2012 11:29 am at 11:29 am |

will e v

The democrates have worked for years to help the little guy and their families only to get these helping hands chopped off in the name of conservancy. when you give a small tax cut to the least of us and then charge them full price for services that were free or at a reduced cost that is budget repair onthe backs of those who can least afford it. It is time America wakes up to this and recalls the NO party knuckle heads before they damage our nation any further. Smart alac politics should have ended with Bush ... No right thinking peron should allow them to gut the services to those who need them. Shame on those that take that road to balance the budget. My America was never selfish or petty until the ditto head mentality was spread all in the name of conservacy.

May 4, 2012 11:29 am at 11:29 am |

newz4i

From the great fall we went through to now an 8.1 percent unemployment rate and hiring continuing upwards and with the Republicans who are in power pulling every economic snag they can to take us down, we're able to see forward. bin Laden's records spelled out how he wanted OUR president, Barack Obama, out. The Right's angle is similar. But we're winning. America is winning.

May 4, 2012 11:30 am at 11:30 am |

Leopold

While Mr. Obama has done fairly well in external affairs he has struggled with the domestic economy. It is not his strength, mistakes were made early in his administration, and now the economy shows signs of entering another downturn. This places the President in a very difficult position when he has to face the voters this coming November. If the economy continues like this he will have a hard time getting re-elected.

May 4, 2012 11:30 am at 11:30 am |

mm

And, the GOP solution is what????

May 4, 2012 11:32 am at 11:32 am |

keeeleee

Everybody should naturally react with frustration towards the current government, not just the "republicans".

May 4, 2012 11:32 am at 11:32 am |

Honest Citizen

I guess posters on this site just cant read or cant remember past yesterday. Just last week, CNN had an article about the REAL unemployment figures that include all of those who have given up looking and are taking government handouts in many other ways than unemployment in order to survive. The Obama administration numbers are clouded with misdirection and outright deceat which do not inclued these unemployed and in addition those UNDER employed. People who were making $50,000 plus but are now working for minimum wage doing service oreinted jobs in order to feed their families. Millions of people fall into both of these categories and yet posters here (like good little Democrats) refuse to take them into account.

May 4, 2012 11:33 am at 11:33 am |

Bjohnson

Ted Nugent 2012 !!!

May 4, 2012 11:33 am at 11:33 am |

Harry Wortz

More silly season rhetoric.

How long will it take for the first Dem to be offended by these statements?